By arthur Weinreb
February 8, 2005
a study that examined how american high school students felt about their rights under the First amendment was released on January 31. Commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the study was undertaken by the University of Connecticut. Over a two year period, researchers conducted interviews with 500 principals and school administrators, 8,000 teachers, and approximately 100,000 high school students. One of the more shocking revelations that came out of the survey was that over one third of the respondents (36 percent) believed that newspapers should get approval from the government prior to publishing stories.
Some analysts point out that it is not so much that these students think that government censorship is required; it is that they don’t care if the government does censor the written news media. Some say, in what seems at an attempt at rationalization, that the results of the survey showed that young people simply took their rights for granted.
When it comes to freedom of the press and freedom of speech, it is difficult to believe that the views of Canadian students would be any different. after all, in Canada the government plays a much greater role in the lives of its citizens thanks to its all intrusiveness into the care of their health. Young people are raised to believe that government is the answer to all of their problems. So if the government decides in the future that the country would be better of with a censored media, it might not face as much opposition as one would expect.
Every young person in Canada who is at least semi-conscious knows that allowing gays and lesbians to marry is a "right". But do they know that the ability of newspapers to publish without government interference or control is also a "right"? If the american study is even somewhat applicable north of the border the answer is probably not.
Charter of Rights or no Charter of Rights — when citizens become so blasé that they don’t care whether or not their government censors the free flow of information, society is in deep trouble.